Mostyn Evan and his family, miners turned bargees, wage a glorious
but hopeless struggle against rapacious coalmasters, Irish navvies,
the ravages of cholera, and the bullying illegal Unions.
As they ply their trade between the furnaces of Cyfarthfa and the lush
beauty of the Neath Valley, they pray and fight, sing and love, and face
each obstacle undaunted with all the stubbornness and exuberance
of Wales itself.
This is the third instalment in Alexander Cordell's magnificent saga of
nineteenth century Wales that began with classic bestseller The Rape...

Hywel Mortymer's story begins in 1800 when he is 16, and a dramatic change in fortune leads him, innocent and inexperienced, to a brutal and dangerous life working in the coal mines. In the mines children can be horribly maimed in devastating gas explosions, or grow deformed with the burden of their labors. Wales is in turmoil. A tragic divide between rich and poor, the workers powerless, penniless, starving, and diseased, sparks growing unrest as the newly founded Unions move inexorably towards the Chartist Rebellion. "This Proud and Savage Land" is a brilliantly detailed chronicle of early...